


Cheers

by fanfoolishness (LoonyLupin), LoonyLupin



Category: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Romantic Fluff, Skyhold
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 08:57:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8366179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/fanfoolishness, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/LoonyLupin
Summary: Min Hawke and Varric finally get a chance to reconnect and reminisce at Skyhold.  (Written before the rest of the Chapter x Verse series, this helped launch my Hawke x Varric streak.  However, if reading all the stories together, I would consider this non-canon for their romance.)





	

Min Hawke groaned, glaring at the _Tale of the Champion_ book sitting crookedly on the bar, its pages open to a lavish and horrendously inaccurate illustration of Hawke dancing on the Arishok’s skull.  “I’ve a serious fight to pick with you, Varric.”

He blinked innocently, spreading his hands wide and nearly knocking over his tankard in the process.  “I don’t see what this is all about, Hawke.”

“Really now.  You go around spouting all this rubbish –”

“Embellishment –”

“Trash –”

“Fair enough –”

“And you just expect me to sit idly by?  I ought to smack you round the head for defamation of my character,” Hawke said, taking another gulp of ale.  She needed it, too.

“Well, come on, Hawke, you know there were a few key things I couldn’t divulge to the Seeker, don’t you?  Don’t I get any credit for that?”

“Like that Isabela could be off anywhere?”

“That’s how she would have wanted it, Hawke!  Planting a false lead about her still living in Kirkwall, an easy target… actually ran into her on the Storm Coast, she thanked me herself.”

“I do miss her mischief,” said Hawke warmly.  “Though I was right mad about her running off at the time.  I hope our paths cross again.”

“See, nothing wrong with a little embroidery of the truth,” said Varric, chuckling.

“But what is this nonsense about my breasts, Varric?”

He nearly choked on a mouthful of ale.  “Excuse me?”

She grabbed the book and flipped to the relevant passage.  “Right here.  ‘ _Hawke’s bountiful breasts merely accentuated her voluptuous figure’…_  oh please!  Your bosoms are far more bountiful than mine, if we’re to be honest. Now, that’s just ungentlemanly of you, wishing your best friend was more… zaftig.”

“That was just to sell it!  And to disguise you a bit, if you needed to be,” said Varric defensively.  “After all, if no one was clear on what you looked like, it’s much easier to fade into the shadows.  Which I would think a rogue like you would appreciate.”  He glanced down at his chest, bared as always.  “My bosoms are not larger than yours –”

“Trust me,” said Hawke, “they are.  Nothing wrong with that, but there it is.”  She grinned cheekily at him.  “And what was all that pablum about Anders and me?”

“It wasn’t pablum!  It was charming!  Tender, even!”

She raised her eyebrows.  “Saying that Anders and I rode off into a magnificent sunset is nicer than the much messier truth, I suppose.”  She sighed.  “I’ll always love him, I think, but… from a distance.  I think he understands.  It’s been almost a year since we went our separate ways, if you’ll recall.”  Her mouth twisted, and she chased the sudden sting of sadness with another hearty swig of ale, remembering the letters she’d sent Varric, and his replies.  They had helped a great deal.  “But neither of us were amused by your rosy depiction, sad to say.  One thing we’ll always have in common.”

Varric sighed.  “I always worried it might end up that way, Hawke.  I’m sorry.  I know the feeling, seeing something you wanted to work so bad just – not making it.  Even though you tried.”  He took another drink.  “I haven’t forgiven him yet either for Kirkwall.  Can’t see how to do it when there’s still rubble in the streets.  But I still miss the old Blondie.  I guess I hoped a sympathetic portrayal would help me remember him more kindly.”  He looked embarrassed. 

Hawke reached out, clapping Varric on the shoulder.  “I miss him too.  I miss all of them.  Fenris and Merrill are doing brilliant things.  Aveline is crushing all who stand in her way, as usual.  And Bethany was able to get far away when the other Wardens started going mad; she’ll be safe.  It’s hard, though, to know how scattered we all are.”

“Kirkwall may be a shithole,” Varric began.

“But it’s _our_  shithole _,”_ they finished in unison.

Hawke smiled, squeezing Varric’s shoulder again and nudging him good-naturedly.  “You don’t know how good it is to see you.”

“Yeah, I think I do,” said Varric.  He hesitated, then reached up to his shoulder, covering her hand with his.  

His hand was warm, callused, larger than she would have guessed.  It felt good.   _He_  felt good.

Hawke laughed.  The pub was brightly lit, the hubbub of voices a familiar comfort, the ale good, and the company better.  Could she ask for anything more?

“What are you thinking?” asked Varric, his voice a low murmur.  She leaned into him, the better to hear.

“Oh,” she said, “just wondering how you’ll write the story of our first kiss.” 

There was a happy blur of sensations, then: Varric’s look of surprise, turning into a tender gaze; his hand, cupping her cheek, fingers soft against her skin; firm lips and scratchy stubble.  When he drew back she was gratified to see him grinning, his cheeks pink.

“Damn it, Hawke,” he said.

“Wait, what?” Hawke asked in disbelief.  “We finally resolve our simmering sexual tension, and you’re upset?”

Varric laughed, a rich, deep sound.  “I’ll never be able to do this story justice.  I’ll just have to keep it to myself.”  He stroked her cheek, fingers brushing against the line of her jaw, then lowered his hand.  “I can live with that, though.”

Hawke raised her glass, feeling happier than she had a in long while.  “Cheers, Varric.”

“Cheers, Hawke.”

**Author's Note:**

> After a great deal of thought I just couldn't see my Hawke and Anders staying together for the long term. They both wanted to make it work, but Kirkwall was too great a gulf between them. They're still friends, but they were both relief to be free of the guilt and distrust that had sprung up between them.


End file.
